Chapter 168: Maple Leaves Fall Into His Heart

Richard was afraid the antiques from his ancestors would be bought by Zhou Yuchuan, so he paid the money very readily.

Five antiques, ten million each, totaling fifty million.

The gold and silver coins in the safe, after being counted and appraised, consisted of thirty-five silver coins and twenty gold coins.

The silver coins were three million each, sold as a bundle for a total of one hundred and five million.

The twenty gold coins came to exactly one hundred million.

Plus the five million that Richard, in his desperation, had voluntarily added to the price.

This time, Bai Wei had brought in two hundred and sixty million all at once!

She was satisfied.

Because Bai Wei had never been interested in collecting these few crates of Western antiques anyway.

Moreover, she had sold five antiques, and she had even picked the items of lower value.

With the remaining two crates of antiques, Bai Wei began to negotiate with Richard, intending to exchange them for the Dragon Head.

However, after looking at the antiques, Richard spread his hands in regret.

"Miss Bai Wei, these two crates of antiques of yours are indeed of great value, but they cannot be exchanged for the Dragon Head of the Twelve Beast Heads; its value is even higher than these two crates of antiques."

Bai Wei frowned.

The other party was too shrewd and simply refused to trade.

Deputy Director Qian pondered for a moment, "We can use money to redeem the Dragon Head."

"No, no, no." Richard folded his hands and shook his head proudly, "This is not a matter of money. The Dragon Head is a treasure of the museum; we are not selling it."

Bai Wei asked, "Then... what do you want? How can we make an exchange?"

A flash of a businessman's shrewdness crossed Richard's eyes.

But he feigned nonchalance.

"If you really want to redeem the Dragon Head, you must exchange it for an antique of national treasure level, such as the symbol of supreme power of the Kent Dynasty during the Seven Kingdoms period—the King's Scepter."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yuchuan smiled faintly.

"You want the King's Scepter? That is indeed a peerless treasure, crafted from gold and inlaid with countless priceless gems."

"But as far as I know, it was lost at the end of the Seven Kingdoms period and its whereabouts remain unknown to this day."

Richard spread his hands, putting on a helpless expression.

"There is nothing to be done about that. If there is no antique of equivalent value, we will not hand over the Dragon Head."

The atmosphere in the room was somewhat heavy.

Bai Wei, however, lowered her head and pondered in her mind.

This King's Scepter was only lost at the end of the Seven Kingdoms period, which meant that it still existed in the time before that.

Since it still existed, she could get Xiao Moting to go find it!

It was just that the scepter was in the Kent Dynasty overseas, so to find it, one would have to go to sea.

But now Daliang was facing internal and external troubles, and ships had no way to sail across the ocean; they could only fish in coastal waters.

Daliang's industry had also not developed to the point of being able to build giant ocean-going vessels.

But it didn't matter; as long as she continued to help Beijiang develop, one day in the future they would build giant ocean-going vessels, travel far to the Kent Dynasty, find the scepter, and bring the Dragon Head home!

Bai Wei made up her mind and looked up at Richard.

"Alright then, since we cannot exchange for the Dragon Head, I would like to exchange with you for other things."

The Roth Family still possessed many Huaxia antiques that had fallen overseas, and she would exchange these items back first.

"Very well." Richard agreed this time.

The two sides exchanged antiques based on their value to achieve an equivalent exchange.

Richard took out an illustrated catalog and let Bai Wei look at the things she wanted to take away.

This catalog recorded all the collections in the Ross Museum in Yinglun.

Bai Wei flipped to the first page; the picture was the foyer of the museum, with a Buddha Head placed in the center, solemn and dignified, radiating an aura of peace.

The Buddha Head was severed at the neck, the cut clean.

Her heart jolted.

This was a Huaxia Buddha statue!

To the right was a Gold Cross.

To the left was the Dragon Head, glaring with wide eyes under the lights, as if accusing the anger of being plundered!

They were placed in the foyer as treasures of the museum.

Bai Wei flipped through the catalog, yet the more she looked, the angrier she felt.

In the pictures, the Ross Museum actually housed many pieces of Huaxia antiques.

A small light green jade pot, a Qing Dynasty Dragon Carving, a Stone Pillow engraved with the four characters 'May the Nation Be Forever at Peace', a Liao Three-Color Arhat Statue, a Song Ru Kiln Basin...

And there were even more exquisite porcelains and jade wares... but their numbers were too great, so they all had no names, crowded and piled into the glass cabinets of the exhibition hall, covered in dust, filled with a lonely atmosphere...

Bai Wei flipped through page after page, tears welling up in her eyes.

She seemed to hear them calling out in silence.

—"I want to go home!"

In her ears, Richard's slightly confident voice sounded.

"Our museum houses more than twenty-three thousand Huaxia treasures; what we brought here for the exhibition this time is just a drop in the bucket."

"You are welcome to visit the Ross Museum to see these treasures."

The room was very quiet; no one spoke to him.

Deputy Director Qian, Ye Lao, Zhou Yuchuan... their expressions were heavy.

They are not stray antiques, but records of the war-torn decades of Huaxia.

In her heart, Bai Wei made up her mind once again.

She would help Xiao Moting defeat the Yuan Family Army, quell the internal rebellion, unify Daliang, and then vigorously develop industry and build ships to sail the seas!

She must, at all costs, take back the Dragon Head!

The antiques exchanged by both sides all required appraisal.

Therefore, both sides each dispatched ten professional antique appraisers, as well as notaries, to the auction hall of the Jialide Company in Yanjing to evaluate the value of the antiques, see how much they were worth, and then conduct an equivalent exchange.

Bai Wei called for Zhou Yuchuan and, together with him, carefully selected the Huaxia antiques she wanted to trade back.

Then, her two large crates of antiques, along with the Huaxia antiques she had selected, all had to undergo evaluation.

The evaluation time would take approximately five to seven days.

Bai Wei stayed in Yanjing, waiting for the appraisal to be completed before proceeding with the exchange.

Deputy Bureau Chief Qian patted Zhou Yuchuan on the shoulder, meaningfully, "Little Zhou, Bai Wei is unfamiliar with Yanjing; you should accompany her around these next few days."

After speaking, he smiled at Bai Wei.

"Little Zhou also has a position at the Cultural Relics Bureau; if you come to work here, you will be colleagues with him."

Bai Wei was speechless for a moment.

Why was it that everywhere she went, she was inexplicably tied to this man surnamed Zhou?

At this moment, her stomach let out a rumble.

Zhou Yuchuan laughed, "There is still some time before dinner; there is a snack street nearby with many Yanjing snacks, let me take you to look around."

"A snack street?" Bai Wei's eyes lit up.

She had heard that Yanjing had many delicious things; she had to try them and send some to Xiao Moting later.

Xiao Moting was traveling with his army and would need to ride for several days to reach Shiya City.

He must be having a hard time on the road; she would treat this as a reward for him!

The nearby snack street was located in a small alley.

Both sides were lined with sycamore trees.

As soon as Bai Wei reached the entrance of the street, she saw a long row of stalls on both sides of the road, with waves of food aromas drifting over.

"There are actually so many delicious things!"

Bai Wei was excited and hurried into the crowd.

Having just received an income of nearly three hundred million, she did not hold back at all when buying snacks, eating her way from stall to stall, buying whatever she saw.

For food she found delicious, she would buy a large bag directly.

She handed everything to Zhou Yuchuan to carry.

In any case, he was the "bag carrier" assigned to her by Deputy Bureau Chief Qian.

A maple leaf drifted down and landed on Bai Wei's head.

She didn't notice, as she was busy nibbling on a skewer of candied haws she had bought.

Zhou Yuchuan was carrying two large plastic bags in one hand, filled with the snacks Bai Wei had bought.

He was tall, and seeing the leaf stuck to Bai Wei's head, he reached out naturally and took the leaf off her head.

Bai Wei sensed the movement and turned back to look at him.

Holding the bright red candied haws, her smile was radiant, her eyes sparkling like little crescent moons, and she reached out to offer him a skewer.

"Hey, bag carrier, this skewer is for you!"

Zhou Yuchuan's breath hitched, and his heart suddenly gave a slight flutter.

It was as if a falling maple leaf had drifted into his heart.